We’re having a “thank you” night on the evening of September 18th!
If you’d like to request tickets, please email tickets@crosschurch.ca!
What’s a common day look like here?
Hey all!
Some of the crew has gone to market for the morning to do some shopping on our last day here. We will be working for the afternoon. A few of us have stayed behind to tend to some work around here.
I thought I would use today’s post to let you know what an average day looks like around here! It’s been almost 3 weeks since we left Canada, and we often catch ourselves referring to here as “home”. Funny!
So here is what my day would look like.
At about 6 or 6:15 am, pigeons land on the roof and wake most of us up. I’ve been sleeping with earbuds in, but still hear them. For about an hour I toss and turn and contemplate waking up. For those of you who know me, you’ll know that I am very much not a morning person so this is very peculiar behavior! By 6:45 am, the workers begin arriving and making cement blocks to build with (I will definitely be showing a video of this very labor-intensive task!).
At about 7, people start gathering in Happy and Evangeline’s livingroom and begin preparing breakfast. Lyle or Shawna or someone always prepares a big pot of Jungle Oats (porridge) and some hot fresh coffee. Slowly people start waking up and trickling into the livingroom to make breakfast. For the most part, we’ve been eating Jungle Oats, toast, cereal and yogurt (which is spelled “yoghurt” here in Zambia). By about 8 or 8:30, Dennis Perron, our team leader, leads us in a time of devotions. They have been quite inspired and encourage us as we go about our day. We then spend about 10 minutes in prayer as a team and break from there to start the day.
The mechanics (Dave and Adam) work on the bus, the painting team (Denny leading, Angela, Jeremy, Dennis, sometimes Rita, Dave and Adam too!) discuss what needs to be painted today and then start doing so. The cook begins prepping in the kitchen and chatting with Bertha, the girl who works in the home here. Pastor Alan, Janet and myself usually take a few moments to connect and discuss the day. More often than not, Pastor Alan, Happy and myself have to head into town to take millions of Kwatcha out of the ATM to purchase supplies that are needed to continue the work here. Shawna decides who she will be teaching guitar if she isn’t cooking.
On days where I don’t have to go shopping (ACK! I never want to shop again!), I upload video from the past few days, and by mid morning, everyone is usually well under way and easy to film!
We usually break for lunch at about 12 or 12:30 depending on the day. Since we have our own cook, we’ve been really blessed to enjoy some delicious meals! Tuna or grilled cheese sandwiches; rice, beans and sausage; meat loaf; home made hamburger soup and bread; omlettes, just about anything you can imagine. The food has been very good here for us! We’ve even enjoyed some traditional Zambian Nshima which is kind of like a sticky ball of cream of wheat that you use as a utensil to pick up meat, vegetables and a yummy soup made with beef soup base and tomatoes!
After lunch it’s back to work. More often than not, people run out of supplies before the day is done, so everyone pitches in where needed. It’s quite exciting to see everyone working together!
On days where we are out shopping, we usually break for lunch at our new favorite restaurant called Sweet Bite, where they have delicious Chicken Shawarmas with chips (fries), cole slaw and a very creamy garlic sauce. For 4 people to eat, have a pop and a bottle of water it’s about 100,000 Kwatcha (about $20). In the past week, we’ve been blessed with some very good shopping days. We know some people at the hardware stores and know which store carries which items, so that has been going smoothly. It is still an ordeal to go into town and shop!
At suppertime, it’s a variation of cleaning, showering, eating and rushing to get to prayers which are happening in the building across the way from us (about 50 meters or so). We are usually shoveling food into our mouths to make it over to prayers. What they would call prayers I would probably moreso call a small, exciting, vibrant service! Seriously… when we get back to Canada, going to church there is going to feel more like a funeral compared to the services we enjoy here! There is a lot of beautiful, loud, excited singing, dancing, shouts of joy, clapping and enthusiasm! I hope as a worship leader in the church I can bring back some of that excitement!
After the singing is done, someone usually shares a word or a testimony.
After prayers have dismissed, we usually chat with everyone here and make our way back to the house for some coffee and fellowship. We usually debrief the day and begin planning the next day, what needs to happen, who is responsible for what. Then people slowly start heading off to bed, or to enjoy some quiet. I like to stay up late, so I’m usually one of the last ones hanging around. We have had an amazing time getting to know each other, Happy and Evangeline, and some of the locals around here. God has blessed us even through the every day things that are happening here!
Hope you have a wonderful day and enjoy God’s blessing even in the mundane!
Terrin and the Chiwala Team!
Keeping you in the Loop…
Hey guys!
I have sat down several times to write my second part to VOH on Friday, but the internet and the laptop here seem to disagree with my blogging moods!
Anyway, let me sum up the last few days for you!
On Sunday, we went to a church in the village and were treated to a real 3 hour African church service! It wasn’t boring at all. There was an amazing time of singing (including a lot of songs we have learned in Bemba!), AMAZING choir, and a very strange sermon. The music was amazing because of the walls made of stone. We then came back to the house and greeted some Kitwe visitors (Greg, Gloria, Rachel and Cathy). Some of the crew went into the local village to hand out gifts, and for the rest of the day we played board games.
On Monday morning, Janet, Dennis Barrett and I got up at 5:45 to film the sunrise. The sun looks much different at dusk and dawn here than in Canada. It’s like a big huge red ball that moves very quickly. It is a much different and equally beautiful experience to a sunrise in Canada.
This week we have really been pushing to get work done. We’ve completed the construction of the wall around the secret garden. The plaster was applied on Tuesday. The painters are also doing a great job around the house. Denny has a great team around him and the house is now a beautiful golden beige-y color instead of just concrete. It looks like a real home!
On Tuesday, we decided that we wanted to put on a kid’s program as well as doing a Gym Riot for the youth of the area. Promo works a lot differently around here. We made up about 50 invitations on the computer and handed them out, and then we had over 400 children show up for the children’s program in the morning and about 100 youth in the afternoon! CRAZY! We had a great time with the children talking about Nehemiah. Janet led the storytelling, Angela and Evangeline headed up the coloring, and Adam took on games! It was a lot of fun, and we couldn’t have pulled off the morning without the help of our awesome interpreters.
In the afternoon, we experienced utter chaos as we tried to explain snake through the hoop, conveyor belt, and stick exchange! Once the youth caught on, it was awesome- everyone laughing and enjoying the afternoon! We finished off the day by serving Nshima, fried eggs, vegetable and soup! yum!
We of course have had to do a lot of shopping this week- we purchased new tires for the bus, a door and frame for the secret garden, a plethora of plumbing supplies, food galore and several other odds and ends.
Things are going very well here, and we are going to be crying our eyes out before we leave on Friday morning.
Thanks for reading!
Overwhelmed! (in a good way)
Today the Chiwala team packed into a small bus and headed to VOH Kitwe to see the site!
Ndola is only about 65 km from Kitwe, but the trip takes a little more than an hour. Today has been hotter than usual- probably closer to 30 degrees, while we’ve been used to probably 25 or so. Anyway, we pulled up the gate at VOH and the bus honked the horn three times. As soon as the door opened, we heard children shouting and yelling. As soon as we could figure out what was going on, we saw hundreds of kids swarmed around our Kitwe Mission:Zambia team, and they began running toward our bus. As we pulled into the property, they continued to shout excitedly and bang on the doors and windows of the bus.
We could barely even get out of the bus as they began to grab our hands and escort us over to an open area where hundreds more gathered. We were then pointed to a stage with many wooden chairs, and we greeted our fellow missionaries there. The sight was extremely overwhelming! People were shouting and cheering and dancing and singing upon our arrival!
We were then treated to some music and testimonies from the children there. First the preschool sang and danced, and then some older children, and some teenagers, and a few youth gave their testimonies! Sergio also told the kids about our church and how we’ve been partners in ministry over the years. We were all sniffling and smiling, some of us crying tears of joy from the overwhelming welcome we had received from VOH. I also caught the whole thing on tape so those of you at home can cry too!
Sergio then took us on a tour of the village and showed us the classroom, youth house and home that we built. We also saw the machine that is digging the bore holes for water that the plumbers will be working with once the container lands.
Much much more happened after that, but you’ll have to wait until tomorrow’s post to hear about that. I will give you one hint though- we got to meet our sponsor children!
Thanks for your prayers and for reading!
Terrin and the Chiwala team!
We all wore our “Mission:Zambia” shirts
A Prayer Update!
Hey All!
Thank you all for your comments and encouragement in the comments section of the blog. I’ve really enjoyed reading the comments to the team when we get a chance to sit around the livingroom! One comment we received asked us for things that Canada could pray for, so here is the list we have come up with!
1. Money. The need is very great here. Pray that God will provide the funds that we need to complete the projects we have started. We are painting the main house, building a fence, constructing a place for Happy and Evangeline to escape from the people who are always around, fixing the bus, fixing the truck, replacing windows, building roofs, putting on a gym riot and childrens’ days, constructing cement blocks (we’ve gone through about 40 tonnes of gravel already!), plotting out the land, hiring help, pouring cement, dealing with the Chief and this whole land battle (we’ve been paying for a lawyer, surveyors and others), fixing the much needed electrical issues, purchasing necessary odds and ends and helping out whenever we can! The need here is much greater than we could have anticipated! If you feel God asking you to contribute, you can do so safely and conveniently by clicking the “donate” button on the menu bar.
2. The Container! We’ve learned it has ported in Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) and should be at the Zambia border within the next 5 or 6 days. It still needs to clear customs. There is still hope that we will see it!
3. Happy and Evangeline! They both work very hard and are stretched very thin. Pray that they can rest, be lifted up and encouraged and equipped to go forth with the work when we are finished here.
4. The teams! We hear the Kitwe team is doing very well (we are currently waiting for a bus so we can go visit VOH today, more tomorrow on that!). The Chiwala team is mostly doing well, no major sickness yet, but many are having troubles getting a good night’s sleep, Adam is suffering with a head cold, as is Evangeline. Pray for the unity of the teams as well. So far everything is going very well, but pray it all stays together!
5. Productivity. We only have 5 working days left until we leave Chiwala! There are so many projects to finish, it’s really overwhelming that we only have 5 working days left to complete them. Pray that God gives us a supernatural ability to complete our tasks.
These are some of the major requests that we have at this time. We are all eating well and enjoying our stay here. God is moving in many ways… we can’t wait to tell you all about it!
Thanks for partnering with us on Mission:Zambia!
Terrin and the Chiwala Team!
Don’t Go on a Shopping Spree in Zambia!
There are no Home Depots, Walmarts, Costco, or any other stores you can think of here in Zambia.
Shopping is an all-day ordeal!
These past two days we’ve gone to town with a hired truck and a big wad of cash to purchase our various supplies. I tell you, when I get to go shopping in Canada again, I will never ever complain again about having to wait or being able to find the items I want!
In Zambia, to go shopping pretty much anywhere you walk into a small shop that is set up very inefficiently. There are too many staff on and the items not sorted very often. Kindof like the parts counter at a Canadian Tire located in Hades.
So you go to these guys with your shopping list. Then you start to ask for the items. And then you find out that all the items you want have different names. Then out come our pens and pencils and handsigns to try to explain these items. Then you find out that they’re out. But there’s a hardware store across the street that might have them. So you go to that hardware store. It takes another 30 minutes to discover that they’re out of that out, but they have about 15 items on your list that the other store didn’t have. So after about 3-4 hours of bouncing between stores you have about 70% of what you needed to purchase, but after walking and standing and hitting ATMs to get more cash (since no one takes Visa or debit!). You are absolutely wasted and ready to drive home! But before you leave the store, they itemize the receipt, check it over, take it to the cashier, who you pay, and then another guy gets your slip and checks off all the items before they leave the store.
Anyway, the last two days have been about 12 hours of this! We have purchased 100 bags of cement, 12 bags of chicken feed, groceries to feed an army, and painting and plumbing supplies that all sound like gibberish to me
Though this is different, it is a necessary outing for us. We have had to keep open minds about the shopping process and practice our patience. We are so thankful that we’ve been able to find many of the supplies that we need to go shopping. God is blessing us with interpreters, drivers, and many friendly people in the stores who are willing to help us.
Anyway… I will post a little more tomorrow, the rest of the team is finally with us and we are enjoying a time of worship and coffee in the livingroom at Happy and Evangeline’s!
Have a good night!
Terrin and the rest of the Chiwala Team
What else can I tell you?
Hey all you folks here!
So it’s been a week for the Advance Team (or the A Team lol), and we’ve figured out a pretty good groove to work in. The next team should be arriving tomorrow afternoon, which is very exciting! We’ve been thinking and praying for them often!
Here are a few things we’d like to share with you:
1. There are so many projects that need to be completed here in Chiwala. If you’d still like to give so that we can purchase supplies and build, please click “donate”. One very important project that we are working on is building a place of refuge for Happy and Evangeline to retreat to- a place that no one else has access to. We’ve been calling it “the secret garden.” One thing that we really feel that we’re here to do is to help Happy and Evangeline find time to spend together so they can be refreshed and recharged. I can already sense that we’ll be coming back here to help… if you want to come, start saving now!
2. School is just getting out at Chiwala High School, which is the largest High School in Zambia. We’re throwing a Gym Riot for them next Tuesday! Our prayer services at night are getting so big that tomorrow we are moving to a different room! We all didn’t really fit in there tonight!
3. We are very much enjoying our time here… but the end is coming too quickly… Lord we want to do so much here for Happy and Evangeline! Pray for us that God will give us wisdom to know which projects to complete, and the ability to do so!
Ok, so I know that’s not a lot of news for an update, but what I thought we could do here today is answer your questions!
So, by using the comment section on the blog, ask away! What do you want to know about Africa? Chiwala? Happy and Evangeline? Kitwe? The team? Food? Coffee? whatever you want to ask, go ahead, and I’ll do my best to answer them tomorrow!
Love you guys! We feel your prayers and thoughts over here!
Terrin and the Advance Team
Computer troubles yesterday! Days 2 and 3 in Chiwala (July 28/29)
Hey guys!
I had two posts written and ready to go yesterday but I had some computer problems. My Mac does not work with the Airtel sticks in Zambia, so I borrowed Evangeline’s computer, which has some power thingy (everything here has its quirks, it’s amazing, I tell ya!). I wasn’t able to post them, so now I need to regather my thoughts and let you know what’s been happening around here!
Days 2 and 3 were very good!
On Thursday, Pastor Alan, Dennis Barrett, myself and Evangeline went to town to do some shopping. There are no Wal-Marts or Home Depots in Zambia, so you are going to little shops for the most part. First stop was Handyman’s Paradise where we picked up some plumbing supplies, then off to the feed store to pick up feed for their chickens (they have many many chickens that lay eggs everyday!). One thing I liked about the feed store is that the man brought out a 50 pound bag of feed right on his head! My neck hurts just thinking about it! Evangeline was a delight to have around. She is so very Canadian, but at the same time, very Zambian. She even has a different accent! After the feed store, we picked up a sim card for my cell phone and minutes to load it. Everyone in Zambia has a pay as you go cell phone. It’s funny. The teenagers look just like ours, texting away! We went to a plastics store owned by an East-Indian family (to my surprise, there are actually quite a few East-Indians in Zambia!) and purchased cereal bowls and patio furniture chairs. We then went to Pick’N'Pay, which is a big grocery store chain. It’s very nice there and you can get just about anything you would buy in Canada, at about the same price. With the average worker on the lot here only making $2 a day, I found myself having a hard time picturing buying a $13 jar of mayonnaise on that budget. The poor here are very truly poor, and the rich are very rich.
At evening prayers, Dennis Perron was slated to give his testimony. We started off with singing and dancing as usual, and were having a ball when, all of the sudden, the power went out! Shawna had her 12 string going and we continued to sing and worship by candle light- some songs in Bemba, some songs in English. Happy, who was leading worship beforehand, led us to pray and worship God and it was a very powerful moment for the Spirit to move in.
Dennis then came and gave his testimony about playing football and his troubles as a young man. I could tell that his story, even though football isn’t played here, really resonated with the young people. Some were crying, and others were so quiet you could hear a pin drop. At the end of his story, he asked if there was anyone who would like to give their life to Jesus, and 17 young men and women stood up and prayed with Happy. I’m so glad it was dark in there, because I probably looked like a mess with all the crying I was doing. God is really moving in this place.
Friday morning we woke up and ate breakfast and did our devotions again in the book of Nehemiah, where he was faced with some opposition. Many of us felt that it would be the day of discouragement, so we decided to prepare. After a great time of prayer with the team and Happy and Evangeline, we headed out to mark where the trench would be dug to pour cement for our wall that is going up. I followed the guys out there with a camera, and they used these blades on a stick (somewhat like a machete) to hack away at the grass- a good way to work on your golf swing! After what seemed like a while, a nice Toyota pulled up- it was the East-Indian owners of the mine nearby- they have illegally built a road on Happy’s property, and we have a big pile of gravel dumped right on it so the workers can mix cement. You could tell they were not happy. Before breakfast, I had learned that Dennis B and Happy had hired a surveyor to come and map the land to make sure that the road was indeed on his land. Happy confidently explained this to the Indian men, who, still unimpressed, stared in disbelief. Happy agreed to let them drive once more on the road, but with the trench being dug this afternoon, they will not be able to use it again. This will not be the last time we see or hear of these men!
After lunch, the hired workers began digging a trench on the front line, and I stayed behind in the house with the ladies to plan the meals for the rest of our time here and to create a grocery list. It took quite a while, and when that was finished, I went outside to find Dennis P teaching some of the high school boys how to play football- a great opportunity to take some video! Since the Sun also goes down at about this time (5:30-5:45 pm or so), I got some great shots of the sunset- a gorgeous and huge red ball that just seems to fall over the horizon!
After putting my camera down, Adam, Dennis and I taught Rogers and Victor how to throw a football. They were all very surprised (including Adam!) that I could throw a spiral. Still got it!
For prayers, we worshipped and danced and had a great time! It was my turn today to give my testimony. I didn’t prepare anything, but just allowed God to speak to me in the moment. I decided to tell the people there (everyone is young… like 25 or younger it seems- Zambia is a young nation) about my story of saying “yes” to God, and how my life seemed empty when I went after my own ambitions. It seemed to strike a chord, and when I was finished, Pastor Alan encouraged the students to make “here am I, use me” their prayer as they went out into Chiwala (or wherever they lived) to become missionaries in their own land- and bring more people with them tomorrow night!
After the service, Victor and a few of his friends wanted to play guitar with me. They had written some rap lyrics and a chorus but needed a chord structure- aha! Something I am very capable of doing! I asked them to come back tonight so I could catch it on film. It was very touching to sing the words that they had written over and over and over again. Africans really put us to shame when it comes to music!
We retreated to the residence for supper and sat around for a while. Happy asked if I could play a song on piano, so I got up and played a few songs, which turned into a very long worship session with Adam and Lyle accompanying the piano with the 12 string guitar and a harmonica. We worshipped together as a team and ministered to Happy and Evangeline. You can tell that they love what they are doing, but are becoming weary with all the responsibility. Many people around here depend on them for support, encouragement and ministry. Pray that they are encouraged by our presence here and not the opposite!
So that is how Thursday and Friday went. Come back again to hear about Saturday! There are still many new things, and we are now counting down the hours as the next team prepares to board their flight this afternoon. We are praying for your safe arrival! Enjoy the trip!
Terrin and the Advance Team
Chiwala, Day 1 (Wednesday, July 27)
Ok!
Wednesday morning we were all up at the crack of dawn for breakfast. Evangeline slaved in the kitchen all morning to make us some amazing cinnamon scones… they were far better than any scone I’ve ever eaten. We had morning devotions, and since we had decided the previous night while chatting to build a fence, Dennis prepared something for us from Nehemiah (if you haven’t read that book, go read it now, it’s about rebuilding a wall!). We spent a few minutes praying, and most of the team headed into Ndola with a hired driver to purchase groceries and construction supplies.
Left behind were myself (Terrin), Dennis Barrett, Pastor Alan and Adam. We decided to put up our portable showers, go for a short walk, and had a really great talk (one of us napped, I won’t say who).
At around 1:00, the rest of the team still wasn’t back, but we decided to go to the kitchen because Bertha (a hired hand in the house) had a traditional lunch of friend vegetables, a tomato soup, chicken and shima (sp?) which is like a big ball of cream of wheat that you use as your utensil to scoop everything else up. It was delicious! Dennis Barret was so into it he got the recipe and wants to make it when we get home. Hopefully we get to eat it again before we leave!
After lunch, we decided to play with the kids, who had just finished at the preschool next door. I would venture to say somewhere between 12 and 18 kids, maybe around age 3 to 8 were just hanging around, and as soon as Adam and I brought out the beach ball, they began having a blast! We just kicked the ball around, no real game or action going… just some good fun! I then decided to get out the video camera to capture some of this and a lot of the girls became more interested in the camera than the game, which was quite fun. Two of my favorite girls that I’ve met so far are Mary and Natasha, who are sisters. Mary must be about 4 or so, Natasha is 9. They have beautiful smiles and fought over who got to sit next to me. After sitting for a while not knowing what to say (they don’t speak english very well since they haven’t been to basic school yet). I started teaching them how to high five, since I had noticed the day before they were very formal and shook hands with all of us… high fives are much more fun! They caught on right away, and have been asking for high fives since.
The ladies returned, and then men returned a little after. Prayer starts at around 5 or 6 (whenever people show up) and ends at around 8. We joined them a few songs in and learned our now new favorite song, which include the words “double-double”… hilarious because we all love our Tim’s.
Adam shared his testimony, which is absolutely powerful (so glad I got it on video). After the service, a couple of boys stuck around to talk to Pastor Alan and Adam, and they were very convinced. They are coming back Thursday night to hear more!
After prayers, we went to the residence and ate some hamburgers and fries and talked about how good God is, and how we love Happy and Evangeline, who seem very tired from the day’s work.
After these conversations, I headed back to our side of the house to wrestle with the netstick. Internet has been hard to come by. I stayed up until midnight trying to get on to give an update! I hope you all apprecaite these updates!
Anyway, it is late tonight, so it is time for bed! Keep praying for us!
Tuesday’s travels to Chwala
Wow!
Time is both moving quickly and slowly around here… it’s hard to explain. It feels like much longer than under 6 days ago that we left, but we keep saying “tomorrow is Friday already?!” There are so many things to tell you about Africa since we last talked from Zambia’s capital (Lusaka).
The Protea Hotel in Zambia was awesome. Nicer than some hotels in Canada even! We had a great steak dinner with Sergio and Nancy from VOH, then we retired to our rooms and went to bed, tired from the long journey and preparing ourselves for another kind of journey (the 4+ hour bus ride from Lusaka to Chiwala).
The next morning we woke up and went to our complementary breakfast at the hotel, which included pancakes, eggs, toast, fruit, fresh hot coffee, yogurt and sweets. It was excellent!
After that we decided to do a little shopping at Spar, which appears to be some kind of grocery store, well equipped with just about anything your heart desires to buy. Everything is similarly priced to groceries in Canada there though, so my guess is that many Zambians who shop at that store are doing quite well for themselves.
After our trip to Spar, we jumped on the bus and began the long journey out of Lusaka.
The roads were nicely paved, which was a surprise for us, because everyone says that the roads in Africa are terrible. We didn’t get a true taste of terrible roads until about 15 minutes before we arrived in Chiwala! Ha Ha! God provides even in the smallest ways.
The journey was quite interesting. We spent most of the trip gazing at the roadside stores and stands and commenting on the interesting or unusual items and names of stores (we drove by a “just in case” butcher store… that does not bring a feeling of security about meat!). We also noted that one or two items would be available for a couple of kilometers, then something else in the next section. There were stretches of hiway that had beautiful carved doors, concrete blocks, charcoal, fermented pumpkin beer (???), rugs, peanuts, popcorn, you name it!
There aren’t any McDonald’s on the highway from Kitwe to Ndola, and yes, they do have right-hand drive and drive on the left side of the road. It took a bit of getting used to, and now I think it will seem strange when we get back to Canada! We did stop once to use the bathroom and I had my first experience with a pay toilet. We had to pay K1000 (about 25 cents US) to use some very poor bathrooms with toilets that had no seats, no soap OR hot water!!!! AH… ok we are really in Africa! Yikes!
After over 4 hours of driving (we forgot to keep track… it’s something like 315 km from Lusaka to Ndola) we turned off onto our road and began to drive on the dirt roads. They were a little bumpy, but no different than a gravel road in Manitoba in the springtime.
Then… and anyone who either went to or followed our journey to Mexico in 2008 will laugh, our bus broke down! Ha! My goodness…
Little did we know that this was a divine appointment. Only a few minutes after discovering that a sprocket that attaches the water pump to some other doodad has broken, a very nice entourage of vehicles shows up. It’s the chief of police, as well as the chief of the area! When Happy heard we had broken down, he jumped into his van and headed out towards us to greet us. He said that he was trying to contact him recently with no luck. Now the chief and the chief of police have seen that there are many Canadians on Happy’s side, which is great!
The reason we think they were in the area is because the President of Zambia came to a ground breaking ceremony at one of the mines. They even grated the road today (Thursday!).
Once that was all over, we moved all of our bags into Happy’s van and headed to his place (only after some men stopped and helped us push-start the van!).
We had actually only broken down about 5 km from his land, which is hilarious to us.
Evangeline showed us around a place for us to stay (which is very nice! It’s essentially a 3 bedroom apartment that we’ve turned into Mission:Zambia Headquarters. There’s two sets of bunk beds, a double bed, and lots of room for the rest of the team when they join us!
That evening we joined some locals for prayer, played soccer with the kids, and cried our eyes out upon seeing the people here dancing and praising God. They sing like angels! It makes our very organized and contrite services in Canada look like a funeral. You become alive, and there is no such thing as singing quietly… you have to sing with your loudest voice!
After prayers, we went to Happy and Evangeline’s side and were treated to some delicious homemade pizza! We sat around and had tea and coffee when we were done eating and retired to bed, as many of us were falling asleep from the long journey still.
And that was Tuesday.
Come back later to hear about how Wednesday and Thursday went!!!
